Monday, February 28, 2011

The most powerful statements are often brief, such as this one that correctly states the situation of Zionism taking the lands of the Palestinians while posing as a people desiring peace. That "peace process" has now been thoroughly exposed as the fraud that this picture represents. What Israel has always wanted is a peaceful exit of the Palestinians from their lands. As the peace sham has come apart, the wolf-like nature of Israel is increasingly on display.

A very impressive and informative poster seen in a San Francisco area rapid transit station from www.bdsmovement.net

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Want to feel the teargas and see the effect it has? Join a protest at the West Bank town of Bil'in in the spring of 2010 starting at 23:00 of the video below.

But above all, listen to the Israeli from Tel Aviv who participates in the protest. Listen to the Australian and the American who have come so far from home to support justice by way of the International Solidarity Movement.

The American, a Jew, says (at 31:25)

I'm ashamed of it (the American flag)...the way we aid Israel, give them carte blanche and we don't do anything for the Palestinians except spew a lot of rhetoric.

INTERVIEWER: Why would you come here?

A couple of reasons. I'm Jewish, so I hate what Israel is doing especially because they claim to be the home of the Jewish people and it isn't, it's Zionism. It's everything against what Judaism stands for so I come to put a different face on Judaism and I believe we are supposed to stand for the oppressed wherever they are...and as an American because my money is used against the Palestinians and so it's important for me to come and stand with the Palestinians and work with them.

The first half of this video is a visit to the home of a Palestinian slain while protesting in 2009. The video is one of almost 100 videos called Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem - something anyone who wants to get to know the Palestinians and their situation should watch.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

I'm sorry to say that one of my senators in Congress is Mark Kirk, the man more heavily financed by the Israel lobby than any other Congressman when he was a representative from Illinois and still their poster-boy as a senator.

He considers himself a champion for Israel and has lately been spouting the kind of nonsense one could expect - that Israel is America's strongest ally, that it is the only democracy in the Middle East etc.

Things are changing in the world around him, however. Events have occurred that make him look even more foolish and out-of-touch than before.

The uprisings of Arabs in many countries in attempts to throw off their autocrats have upset the carefully arranged applecart that provided a tight lid preventing democracy for millions. With the ouster of Mubarak, Israel is worried that the U.S. payoff that provided Egyptian compliance with the oppression of the Palestinians may fail to work. At the same time, the U.S. was put in the awkward position of having to support the ouster of the man it had happily supported for three decades.

The release of the Wikileaks "Palestine Papers" provided proof, if any were needed, that the Palestinian Authority was quite willing to sell out the Palestinian people in negotiations with Israel. The Palestinian Authority, by the way, is paid with U.S. funds to (here's that same phrase again) keep a lid on Palestinian unrest by way of a U.S. trained police force (remember that Palestinians may not otherwise be armed and that Israeli settlers in the occupied territories are armed).

The revelations were also significant because they showed not only that the PA is a puppet but that Israel had no interest in the puppet giving away the Palestinian store. The reason is that Israel wants all of the Palestinian land and always has, making the charade of the so-called Peace Process clear to all...except Mark Kirk.

Finally, and most significant, the President of the United States, after desperately talking to Palestinian President (though his term has expired) Mahmoud Abbas on the phone for the better part of an hour, failed to persuade him to withdraw a request for a UN Security Council vote on a resolution condemning Israeli settlements.

Obama's desperation was understandable because the resolution was essentially a statement of what is official U.S. policy, put forward by the Palestinians in a clear attempt to force the U.S. to show its dedication to Israel rather than its own policy. It was the little boy shouting that the emperor (the "honest broker for peace") had no clothes (was actually in Israel's pocket).

It worked. The result was the incredible veto two weeks ago of U.S. policy by the U.S. at the United Nations. In effect, the U.S. slapped itself in the face publicly for Israel and defied the world by alone opposing (1-14) the rest of the Security Council. To make it even more absurd, the U.S. representative to the U.N., Susan Rice, then said the U.S. still does oppose the Israeli settlements but the solution to the problem lay in the (now thoroughly discredited) peace process!

So Mark Kirk's pronouncements about Israel are now clearly seen to be what they have always been - meaningless statements that serve only to cover for the power of the Israel lobby in America, that power now confirmed by the President kneeling before it in the U.N.

The pace of Israeli growth is the fifth highest among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which Israel joined last year. Israeli growth outstripped that of the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, France and most other countries in the group, too. Economic growth by the OECD nations averaged 2.8 percent last year, while the average for continental Europe was even lower - a mere 1.7 percent.

Is Congress going to do as it has done every year for decades and keep the money pipeline flowing? Why? Lobbying power.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Did you ever sit in a classroom falling asleep while the professor droned on about something or other? I have.

Here is an example of how to put people to sleep while presenting an important topic - the consequences of U.S. support of Israel. Make sure you are well rested and alert before you view this presentation by, yes, a professor.

The take-away I got was how resolutely people will see things in a way to make themselves the victim and the righteous seeker of justice, while ignoring the elephant in the room best exemplified by George W. Bush ignoring the history of Israel and U.S. support for it in total disregard of the Palestinians/Arabs.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Say what you will about HAMAS, everyone agrees that they stand opposed to Israel.

The Palestinian Authority has been posing as a moderate and reasonable leadership for the Palestinians. In fact, the PA is supported financially by the EU and the United States, complete with training by the U.S. military for the PA police forces. It's another attempt to deliver to Israel a compliant prostrate Palestinian people held down by their own.

This was clearly shown in the PA effort to suppress Palestinian demonstrations in support of the Egyptian revolution.

Wikileaks has revealed the sell-out to Israel reality of the PA, leaving Abbas with not even a fig leaf to hide behind. New elections have been announced (in which HAMAS is refusing to participate to date).

It's the same old story of the U.S. finding people to pay off to do its bidding. The breakdown of this system in Egypt is what has the PA scurrying to hold elections.

By the way, as I have mentioned before, the managing editor, Maureen Murphy, of the Electronic Intifada, where the above mentioned article appears, is one of the 23 people subpoenaed by the FBI, all of whom have courageously refused to appear.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Jan Schakowsky, my Congresswoman, is known for her liberal record. She's done all kinds of things in her time in government that indicate her concern for the little guy, for justice and the protection of the weak from the strong. In short, she's not the kind of person to approve of modern Israel. Nevertheless, her (my) district is loaded with Israel-first folks so she votes under their pressure. Here is my attempt to speak against that pressure...

Jan: The 30 year suppression of liberty and justice for all Egyptians through unstinting support for Mubarak by the United States is eclipsed for being shameful only by the twice as long eviction and oppression of the Palestinians by the Israeli governments that you have repeatedly gone out of your way to support. Your history in Congress in this matter reflects the history of hypocrisy shown by the United States toward the Egyptian and Palestinian people.

Even as our eloquent speech-maker President acts as if history began 48 hours ago, the world is well aware of the use of American taxpayer money to keep both Mubarak defying human rights and Israel defying both human rights and international law. As calls in Israel increase for discrimination against Arab Israelis, along with the government supported investigation of Israeli human rights organizations, you continue to act as a legislator in a manner that is, I have no doubt, contrary to your conscience.

With the breakthrough in Egypt we have witnessed, it is time for a breakthrough in your own behavior as a Congresswoman. Defy the power of the Israel lobby that causes you to act against American principles and official policy. Your country does not recognize discrimination against any people and has no business supporting a "democracy" for Jews only while Arabs under their control are abused in a multitude of ways that you should find intolerable and repulsive.

As you get older, you have less time to stand up and reverse the awful record you have in regard to the powerless and preyed-upon Palestinians. Act now to rescue the characterization that history will place on your time in Congress regarding policy toward Israel. You are not a right-wing zealot, even less a fundamentalist Christian hoping for the End of Days, but with reference to Israel you act exactly as if you were. Repudiate the apartheid state the support of which so ill-suits you.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Do you love your country? Then you should understand how Waseem Wagdi feels...and what Martin Luther King felt when he asked and answered the rhetorical question, "How long? Not long!" Democracy in Egypt is long overdue and the United States has helped to keep it from happening, preferring the control of, to freedom for over 80 million people.

Friday, February 4, 2011

I recently received an email from Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois who asked his constituents what U.S. policy in Egypt should be.

He provided a simplistic choice of four answers.

>back the government>push the government to new elections>watch closely but do nothing>do not know

Instead of selecting one of these. I wrote him the following email.

Senator Kirk:

You asked for your constituents to voice their opinions on U.S. policy in Egypt but the choice for answers you provided was quite limited. You deserve to hear something more than a selection from 4 terse statements, one of which is of no help at all - "do not know"

U.S. policy toward the entire Arab world, including Egypt, has been a disaster unless looked at from the standpoint of the dictators who exercise power in the Arab countries.

Hosni Mubarak is a perfect example of U.S. policy ignoring the U.S. founding principle of liberty and justice for all. Mubarak has been paid off/supported by the U.S. to maintain good relations with the government of Israel, regardless of his oppression of his own people. In fact, there is no real U.S. policy in the Middle East other than seconding whatever Israel decides to do or going silent if in disagreement with Israel (as our president does).

The U.S. invasion of Iraq was supposed to bring democracy to the Middle East, yet democracy in Egypt has always been a possibility without the use of American armed forces. Our leverage there is great because of the billions we send there, just as our leverage in Israel is great...but we have not done anything in either country to defend the rights of the large number of Arabs who are oppressed and have been oppressed for decades, the most outrageous example being the Palestinians.

This has only confirmed United States hypocrisy in Arab eyes (and the rest of the world as well).

President Obama gave a historic speech in Cairo at the beginning of his presidency, yet he failed to follow up on it and the Congress has been the last place to find any support for the civil rights of Arabs anywhere in the world.

If President Obama and the Congress had followed up on his Cairo speech, the United States would be in an excellent position to rise appreciably in the eyes of Arabs everywhere.

As it is, the ball has been dropped and we are looking like a party covering itself as best it can while its policy crumbles. It's late in the day to be calling for Mubarak to leave when a few weeks ago we were happy with the man.

So U.S. policy in Egypt has been flubbed. What to do?

Senator Kirk, you have an obligation as an American with real political power, to work tirelessly to end the control of Congress by the Israel lobby. You must change course from the automatic support for Israel that you have shown in the past. The Israeli government is actively pursuing a policy toward the Palestinians that is the exact opposite of the United States refusal to endorse the settlement project. Stop the IRS from granting tax exemption to U.S. "charities" that funnel money to the settlements. Denounce the trampling of human rights that takes place daily in the occupied territories, where the only law is what the Israeli Defense Forces say it is. Demand a withdrawal by Israel to the Green Line of 1967 with land swaps if necessary and give recognition to East Jerusalem as a capital for the Palestinians.

The "peace process" is now clearly seen to be the fraud that Israel has always known it to be, covering for the relentless land-grab in the occupied territories.

You have a great deal of work to do undoing the hole the United States has dug for itself by years of automatic support for a humanitarian and legal travesty undertaken by Israel. With the exception of the United States, the whole world recognizes this travesty. Stop the oblivious manner in which endorsements of anything Israel does are automatically passed in the Congress.

Stand up for the justice that America supposedly values but has failed to support in Palestine for decades.

This blog is directed to Americans by an American and dedicated to the Israeli human rights non-governmental-organizations that work tirelessly against the oppressive policy of the Israeli government regarding the Palestinians. They take seriously what the United States Pledge of Allegiance says - "with liberty and justice for all". They, not the government of Israel, deserve our respect and support.